Phantom Secrets
by Inuchron
Summary: Ed's been acting strange lately, and one day vanishes from his dorm. Al and Roy team up to find him, but has Winry beaten them to Ed? Hints of EdxWin


Well as promised, a new fanfic posted on the weekend! Yay. A huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed and favorited my stories so far! I'll keep trying to give you guys stories you can sink your teeth into! Huggles all

This one doesn't really fit in with my other two, but if you want, you can think of it like a sequal to a sequal. But anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: If i owned FMA, i woudn't have to cuddle my Ed plush every night.

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In the four years that Roy had been acquainted with the boy, he'd never seen Edward this mad. The boy had stormed into his office early that morning, an almost tangible black cloud over his head and the sourest look on his face. After slamming down his pathetically thin report, Ed waited a second before he had stormed out again, scaring a few of the new recruits as they hurredly jumped out of his path.

Roy looked over at his Lieutenant who was busy trying not to follow after the boy with her tawny eyes. "Do you have any idea what that was about?" He questioned. Hawkeye shook her head and stacked a new pile of paperwork onto the Colonel's desk.

She looked at Ed's scribbled report and her usually stoic brow turned down slightly. "His writing's gotten worse." Roy picked up the report and saw that indeed, Ed's usual illegible scrawl - readable only by a select few who knew how to force letters out of the jumble of squiggly lines on the page – had turned into a totally unreadable scribble.

Roy took a moment and the thought that Ed's report was more a piece of art than a report sprang to mind, followed by how nice it would look hanging on his bathroom wall. "You're right lieutenant. I wonder what's wrong with him?"

"Why don't you go and find out for yourself, sir?" The Colonel and lieutenant locked eyes for a moment. The twitch of Riza's fingers near the holstered pistol made up Roy's mind for him. "I'll go now." Instantly, he was up and running out of Central HQ as fast as his fear of Riza Hawkeye's wrath could get him.

Alphonse watched his brother stalk back into their dorm room, soaking wet from the raging thunderstorm that had been in the making from the start of the week and a serious scowl on Ed's face. "How'd it go brother?" Al asked, the trace of a sigh from non-existent lips desperately trying not to make itself known.

His brother had been unnaturally touchy since the beginning of the week, and the black mood he was in had begun to grate on Al's nerves. "Colonel Bastard didn't say a word to me!" Ed griped. "Just sat there with his smug 'I'm-better-than-you' grin. Jeeze, I wish the man would hurry up and get transferred. Preferably to the front line."

"Brother!" Al was shocked by the ferocity behind Ed's words.

"Just saying, the sooner he goes, the sooner I'll be happy." Ed slipped off his wet coat and hung it over one of the wooden chairs in the corner in the hope it would drip dry without crinkling. He then proceeded to undress until he was clad only in a pair of blue boxers, his clothing spread about the room over the backs of all the furniture available. "I'm going to sleep," He then announced. Alphonse got up from his sitting position to follow Ed into the bedroom when he suddenly bumped into the boy in question. "Brother?"

"Stop following me." Ed hissed. "Leave me alone."

"But brother…" Al tried to reason with whatever demon was currently controlling Ed.

"I said LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ed took off into the bedroom and slammed the door into Alphonse's armoured face. There was a click and Al knew then that Ed had locked the door. "Brother! Don't lock the door! Let me in!"

"NO! I told you to go away!"

"Edward!" Al knew using his brother's real name would show him he was serious. "What's wrong? Why don't you want me there?" There was silence from behind the door. "Come on brother, stop being so childish-" There was a creak as the wood of the door ballooned out, pushing Alphonse away from the door. There was silence again as the door creaked itself back to normal.

Alphonse couldn't believe what Ed had just done. "You…pushed me…" He whispered. Ed had never pushed him before. Just then, Al felt something in him give. "Fine Ed! Be that way! I'm leaving!" The armour gave a squeak as he stood up and ran like the child he accused Ed of being out the dorm's door, and into the unsuspecting figure of one Colonel Mustang.

Roy wasn't sure what hit him. First he'd been strolling down the military dorm corridor he knew Ed to be staying at, then he was barrelled over by some large metal _thing_. Crashing to the floor, Roy Mustang got to find out first hand what having a 7ft suit of armour falling on you felt like. When he'd got himself out from under the armour, and caught enough breath to speak, Roy turned to Alphonse and wheezily asked for an explanation. "Brother's just got to me. He's been in a bad mood all week. I just couldn't stand it. He's locked himself in the bedroom and…and he _pushed me!_"

Nothing was said for a few minutes as Roy scanned through what the boy in armour had said. _Ed was physical with Alphonse? Something's defiantly wrong here. _"Come on Al, let me speak to him. Maybe I can knock some sense into his head or at least burn the bedroom door down." Waiting for Alphonse to get to his feet, the Colonel then led the next attack upon Edward's bedroom door. "Fullmetal! Fullmetal! Open the door right now! That's an order!" Roy hammered a gloved fist on the wood. He allowed Ed five seconds to respond before starting again. "EDWARD!" there was still no response.

Roy was seething. "Alright then, we'll play it your way." With a click of the Colonel's gloved fingers, the lock was melted into a small brass puddle and the door slowly swung open, revealing the darkness inside. The two of them cautiously crept into the room, not wanting to aggravate Ed more than he already was.

The room was completely silent, apart from the pitter-patter of heavy rain against the windowpane and the occasional gust that sent the closed curtains reaching into the room. "Edward?" Roy whispered. He peered into the gloom where he guessed the bed to be, and had to stop the worried gasp that nearly escaped. "Al, get the lights."

"But brother'll be mad."

"Dammit Alphonse, get the lights!" There was the clink of metal against metal and Roy had to cover his eyes as the sudden light cut through his eyes. "Roy…" Alphonses' voice was trembling.

"What is it Al?"

"It's brother, he's…he's gone."

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Ed knew he must've looked absolutely crazy to anyone who cared to peer out their windows and knew that right now, he was stupidly showing himself as an easy target to any of Central's dark side. There he was, walking down the main road in nothing but his blue boxers. The rough pavement he was walking on was scraping his flesh foot and he was shivering from the rain that drenched him, though he felt like he was burning.

His flesh hand clutched his automail shoulder tightly, knuckles turning white and he was trying to keep his weight off of his metal leg. Both were sending white-hot pain into his body and he didn't know how much more he could stand. He staggered into a building and bit his tongue as his automail shoulder caught on the bricks. _Dammit._ He continued along, his vision now dancing with bright bursting colours, like a fireworks display only he could see. _Who cares if Al sees me like this? I should've let him take me. _A car passed by, splashing the contents of a puddle over him. _At least it would've been better than THIS!_

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"Where could he have gone?" Roy asked himself quietly. In the background, Alphonse was almost hysterical.

"He's out there! In the storm! He's gonna kill himself!"

"Nonsense Al, your brother's got his coat right? That'll keep him warm at least." Al looked at Roy, before giving a little desperate cry.

"He doesn't have his coat! He doesn't even have a shirt on!"

"What?!"

"He took everything off because it was wet! He's out there in his underwear!" Roy was shocked into silence. If the situation had been any different, the thought of Ed wandering around Central in just his boxers would've made him laugh, but the situation wasn't different, and the only thing Roy could feel was a slowly rising panic.

"Okay," Roy took a deep breath to try and calm himself as well as Alphonse. "Let's think rationally here." There was silence.

"Well??" Alphonse almost screamed at him.

"Hang on! I'm thinking…" Al shuffled around the room, treading on bits of paper his brother had strewn about the floor when his desk had overflowed with alchemy books. He thought he spied a letter from Winry, but the thought of his brother in the storm quelled his curiosity.

"He can't have disappeared too long ago, because the floor by the window isn't that wet." Roy went to inspect the open window. "There doesn't seem to be a forced entry, so he can't have been kidnapped." He scratched his head. "It seems that your brother just up and took off. He can't have gotten too far, come on Al, we'll check around Central." Roy strode from the room, Alphonse scuttling along behind.

Gracia was just putting the finishing touches on lunch when there was a heavy knock on the door. It wasn't soft enough to be Maes, and it wasn't strong enough to be Roy. The giggles coming from the living room told her that it would be her job to answer the door. "I wonder who it could be?" She looked through the kitchen window at the dismal weather outside. "No one should be out in this weather." She placed the food on the table and carefully walked to the door.

She peered through the peephole and saw nothing. Thinking that whoever had knocked had gone away, Gracia turned to leave when the knock came again, slightly more urgent this time. She checked through the hole again, looking further down this time and gasped. "Edward!" She twisted the lock and opened the door, letting the boy fall on to her. Gracia was horrified to see he was almost naked and the rain had caused his skin to become cold and clammy. "Sorry Mrs Hughes - " he chocked out, and promptly collapsed onto the floor. Gracia quickly picked the small boy up and slammed the door closed. "Winry!" she shouted. "WINRY!"

Alphonse had led the Colonel to all of the brother's favourite spots in Central in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Ed, or someone who might've seen him. So far, they'd found no one seeing as the storm had driven everyone into the safety of the buildings. "Are you sure we've checked everywhere?" Roy shouted over a thunderclap. The weather was slowly getting worse.

"Yes! I can't think of where else Ed would go!" Alphonse managed to look pensive for a second.

"He might've gone to the Hughes' house." Roy added.

"Why?"

"I don't know, but it's worth it to check! We need to find a phone box, I can call Gracia from there."

"There's a phone by the café we passed."

"Right then. Don't worry Al, we'll find your brother soon."

The two backtracked to the café with the phone box outside and Roy slipped some coins into the slot and dialled the number. The phone rang four times before someone picked it up. "_Hello, Hughes residence._" Came Gracia's soft voice.

"Gracia? It's Roy; you haven't seen Edward have you? It's just that he wasn't in his dorm when we checked and Al's getting worried. We've checked everywhere for him." Gracia giggled on the other end.

"_You don't have to worry Colonel Mustang, Edward's here with us. He was a bit soaked and cold, but I've given him a spare shirt of Maes' to wear for a bit. Winry's with him now_."

"That's a relief. I'll tell Al. Could you also pass this message on?"

"_Sure, go ahead._"

"Tell Ed that if he ever pulls a stunt like this again, I'll burn him until every last speck of his body is ash." Gracia giggled again.

"_I'll be sure to tell him. Are you going to pick him up now?_"

"Yeah, we'll be over in about five minutes. That should give him enough time to think of a good excuse. Bye Gracia, thanks."

"_It's always a pleasure to speak with you Roy, and you should come by more often. Maes gets lonely sometimes." _There was a click and the line went dead.

"Well Colonel? Was he there? Is he alright?" Al gushed.

"Yep, the little midget's been there this entire time. He's with Winry apparently."

"Winry's in Central?"

"According to Gracia, yes." Al was silent again, but the feeling that the boy was smiling made the silence comfortable.

"Shall we get going? I know a certain subordinate of mine who's overdue for a roasting."

True to his word, five minutes later Roy and Alphonse were being invited into the Hughes' house. Elysia rushed up to them and pulled Alphonse away into the living room to 'play'. This left Roy to find Ed and give him the biggest scolding the boy was ever going to get. "He and Winry are in the last bedroom on the left." Gracia smiled at him.

"Thanks." Roy climbed the stairs and walked by the other rooms until he faced the last bedroom. He was about to open the door when he heard grunting.

"Dammit Winry, it's tight, stop pushing."

"I wouldn't have to push if you did more of this yourself."

"And let Al see? That would just be embarrassing." There was more grunting. Roy's mind was a blank at the moment. _Ed's too young for _that_…isn't he?_ Steeling himself for what he was sure he was about to see, Roy swung the door open.

What he wasn't prepared for was seeing the two teens on the bed, Ed laying on his back, Winry kneeling by his knees helping Ed pull his metal leg into his chest, both dressed. "What the hell? Get out of here!" Ed yelled, throwing a pillow at Roy.

He dodged and instead moved further into the room. "What's going on?" he asked, confusion evident in his voice. Winry sighed and released Ed's leg so it lay flat again on the bedspread. "We're doing strengthening exercises." Winry explained as she once again took hold of the metal appendage and pushed it straight into the air. Ed's face trembled a little and he clenched his teeth. "Ow." He growled. Winry smacked his leg lightly. "I told you! This is what happens when you leave it too long. Your muscles are all bunched up. Every night before bed I told you, but no, you never listen." She slowly released the leg. "Sit up. Legs over the side. Loose the shirt."

"Not while that bastard's here! Get him out!" Ed refused to move.

"I'm not leaving till I know what the hell is going on. I think I deserve an explanation seeing as I've been traipsing round the entire of Central looking for you with Alphonse." Ed had the decency to look fairly sheepish, but said nothing. Winry rolled her eyes at him and sighed again. "Ed's got muscle strain because of the automail. I'm stretching them out for him since he's too lazy to do it himself."

"I'm not lazy! I'm busy!" He defended.

"Not every night you're not." Winry hissed. Roy glanced around the room and his eyes settled on a bottle of open painkillers.

"What are the painkillers for?"

"Phantom pains." Winry answered lightly.

"Winry, don't tell him!" Ed grabbed her hand, not even sitting up.

"Why not? It's perfectly natural to have them if a limb is cut off."

"Yeah, but it's private! Colonel bastard over there doesn't need to know!" Roy stared at the two of them, a smile on his face.

"This is interesting. Please continue Miss Rockbell, I'm _fascinated_." He saw Ed's face go a strange red colour. Winry seemed delighted to continue.

"Well, when something's cut off, the nerves still send signals, but the signals are pain signals, which is why you get phantom pains. Automail can sometimes amplify the pains because the limb you lost is suddenly there again."

"And the muscle strain is because?"

"Automail is heavier than a normal limb, so the muscles have to work harder to support it. That's why most users do strength exercises. If you stop doing the exercises, the muscles sometimes atrophy and begin to get strained." Winry prodded Ed's side. "I said sit up and loose the shirt or I won't do it." Ed grumbled and stiffly pulled the shirt over his head, exposing his automail. Roy had never really seen the thing up close, and the large bolt in Ed's collarbone had him feeling slightly ill._ That must've hurt like hell_. Ed sat up and let his legs dangle over the side of the bed and Winry moved so she was sitting directly behind him. "Okay, I'll do your spine first okay?"

"Whatever." Ed mumbled. He glared at Mustang as Winry's hands began to nudge his spine, moving up and down before she swapped sides.

"What I'm doing now is a bit of chiro."

"Chiro?" Roy asked.

"You know what a chiropractor does right? Works with the spine? I'm making sure Ed doesn't have anything wrong in his."

"Why don't you just tell Roy when I last wet the bed? That would be less embarrassing than _this_."

"Aww, come on Ed. You enjoy this as much as I do."

"Yeah, when we're alone. Not when we have an audience." Winry's face turned slightly red at what Ed said.

"I'll start your shoulder now." She said quietly. Ed turned to look at her before facing front again, his face beginning to go a similar colour. Roy almost laughed at his subordinates reaction, but decided that he was still too curious about what Winry was doing to Ed's back. "I'm just massaging the shoulder, because there's little we can do to strengthen the muscle there because there wasn't much of it left."

Roy watched as she dug her fingers into the flesh surrounding the shoulder port and slowly rotated them. Ed's face slowly lost the tenseness it had held and his eyes began to close. Winry moved downwards, gently massaging Ed's shoulder. The boy in question let out a small 'mmm' of satisfaction before his eyes closed completely. Roy then felt Winry's eyes on him and realised Winry was saving Ed's pride by kicking him out. "I'll be downstairs if you need me. Thank you Miss Rockbell. That was very interesting indeed." Roy gave a small bow to the girl and left the bedroom as quickly as possible.

Downstairs, Elysia had fallen asleep in the lap of Alphonse and Gracia was eating some of the lunch she'd made when Roy returned. "Is brother okay? He's not sick is he? Is that why he's been acting so strange?" Al asked quietly. Roy shook his head.

"I talked with Winry. She said your brother was having phantom pains and had muscle strain." Al made an 'oh' sound.

"Heh, brother always tries to hide his weaknesses from everyone. Even me." Al sounded so dejected right then Roy felt the need to comfort the younger Elric.

"It's alright Al, Winry's sorting him out now. Don't worry."

"But brother's always keeping secrets from me!" The armour rattled slightly. Roy was quiet for a second.

"I bet you have secrets you've never told your brother." He said calmly. Alphonse seemed to quieten at that. "And I bet you tell those secrets to a special person who you trust."

"Yeah, I guess so." Al's head looked at the girl in his lap. "But I just want to help brother, but he never lets me."

"He will eventually. Let Winry beat some sense into him, then go and give your brother a piece of your mind. He'll listen then." Al brightened.

"Thank you…Colonel." Roy did nothing but smile back.

It was a while later when Alphonse gained the courage to see his brother. He carefully climbed the stairs and cautiously opened the bedroom door. The bedside lamp was on sending out yellow light into the dark room. Everything was quiet. The storm had finally blown itself out in the afternoon and the evening was peaceful. Two sets of deep breathing echoed in the room and Al saw his brother and Winry asleep on the bed, curled together. He would've smiled at the sight had he had a human face, and went to leave them in peace. "Al?" Came his brother's sleepy voice, cutting through the calm silence. Al turned to face his brother, who slowly unravelled himself from Winry and sat up. "The storm's over." Al remarked dumbly. Ed looked at the window.

"Yeah, it is." The air around them was uncomfortable. "Uh…Al…I just want to say…you know earlier…I, uh…I didn't really mean anything I said…and I want to say…er…um…"Ed's voice trailed off and he stared at his lap.

"Apology accepted Brother. Roy told me." Al smiled.

"The Colonel eh? Remind me to kick his ass." Ed yawned and Winry made a strange gurgling sound and scooted closer to Ed. Al laughed.

"You should go back to sleep brother."

"Hmm? Oh…I might…yeah…that's what I'll do…" Ed slumped into a laying position and within seconds he was asleep again, nestled with Winry.

Al left the room and closed the door. "I think there's one secret you don't know about yourself brother, but Winry will tell it to you." With that, Al returned to the bustling living room where a newly arrived Maes were assaulting Roy and he sat down. "I guess we can all have our secrets."

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Crappy ending i know, but this is another that i forced out. I hope it keeps with the standard i set with my other two, and i'll be able to tell if you REVIEW. Feed a writer, you know you want to.

Thanks for reading! Inuchron


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